Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Sandisk Corporation $SNDK

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Sandisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 27,159 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $55,687,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SNDK. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Sandisk by 35.1% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 57,564 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $130,885,000 after acquiring an additional 14,964 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Sandisk by 84.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,521 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 2,067 shares during the last quarter. Tredje AP fonden bought a new stake in shares of Sandisk in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,821,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Sandisk by 1,301.5% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 33,637 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,985,000 after purchasing an additional 31,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Sandisk in the 4th quarter valued at about $422,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Alper Ilkbahar sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,756.58, for a total value of $3,513,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 52,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,531,364.66. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bernard Shek sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,162.16, for a total transaction of $697,296.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,928,176.40. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 3,800 shares of company stock valued at $6,504,856 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Sandisk News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Sandisk this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major Japan investment supports long-term growth: Sandisk and Kioxia plan to invest more than $31 billion in Japan through 2032, subject to government support, to expand flash-memory production. The spending is intended to address tight supply caused by accelerating AI and data-center demand, while strengthening Sandisk’s long-standing joint venture with Kioxia. Kioxia and Sandisk to Invest Over $31 Billion in Japan
• Positive Sentiment: AI demand remains a powerful industry tailwind: Nvidia’s strong quarterly results and outlook reinforced expectations for sustained spending on AI infrastructure, potentially lifting demand for Sandisk’s NAND flash and enterprise solid-state drives. Analysts also point to pricing strength, constrained supply and multiyear agreements as drivers of near-term growth. Memory and Storage Giants to Gain Amid Nvidia’s Results
• Positive Sentiment: Recent operating performance provides support: Sandisk’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings per share of $39.25 versus the $33.28 consensus and revenue up 371.6% year over year. Its guidance for fiscal 2027 also reflects continued confidence in demand.
• Neutral Sentiment: Long-term opportunity is substantial but execution-dependent: Comparisons with Nvidia’s earlier AI-driven growth phase highlight Sandisk’s data-center potential, but the stock has already gained dramatically, increasing sensitivity to earnings expectations and future supply-demand conditions. Has Sandisk Already Had Its Nvidia Moment?
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking is weighing on memory stocks: Investors have been locking in gains after the sector’s sharp rally, causing Sandisk and peers to move lower even after Nvidia’s favorable report. Why Is Sandisk Stock Up on Friday?
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and policy risks remain concerns: Analysts have flagged the elevated valuation following Sandisk’s extraordinary run, while possible U.S. trade or export-policy changes could create uncertainty for semiconductor suppliers. Mizuho has also lowered its expectations for the stock. Why Memory Stocks Are Sliding

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Sandisk in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Sandisk from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $1,750.00 target price on shares of Sandisk in a report on Friday, August 14th. Melius Research set a $2,350.00 price target on Sandisk in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Sandisk from $1,400.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sandisk currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $1,998.14.

Sandisk Trading Up 0.0%

Sandisk stock opened at $1,484.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $217.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 5.20. Sandisk Corporation has a 12 month low of $50.07 and a 12 month high of $2,354.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $1,595.87 and its 200-day moving average is $1,250.36.

Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $39.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $33.28 by $5.97. The business had revenue of $8.96 billion during the quarter. Sandisk had a return on equity of 87.84% and a net margin of 56.47%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 371.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. Sandisk has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 44.000-46.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sandisk Corporation will post 208.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandisk declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to buyback $14.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to purchase up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Sandisk

SanDisk Corporation offers flash storage solutions. The Company designs, develops and manufactures data storage solutions in a range of form factors using flash memory, controller, firmware and software technologies. The Company operates through flash memory storage products segment. Its solutions include a range of solid state drives (SSD), embedded products, removable cards, universal serial bus (USB), drives, wireless media drives, digital media players, and wafers and components. It offers SSDs for client computing applications, which encompass desktop computers, notebook computers, tablets and other computing devices.